Jessica’s Story
When Jessica was just three-weeks-old, she was hooked up to a life support machine, surrounded by wires, tubes and screens. Not even a month old and she was already in heart failure.
Jessica’s Mum, Elaine, says Jessica looked “so impossibly fragile and tiny in the middle of it all.” Elaine remembers the sound of rhythmic beeping. The whoosh of the pump that kept Jessica breathing, as she fought to hang on to the precious gift of life.
Jessica was soon diagnosed with two heart conditions, but the doctors told Jessica’s parents that her conditions were so serious they couldn’t be treated with medication or surgery.
Jessica’s only hope was for a full heart transplant.
Elaine said the wait was unbearable and it went on for seven months. But then, one day in August 2015, a miracle.
A call from the UK at 6.30am turned out to be the most important phone call of their lives. Elaine and Stephen were told “We have a possible donor heart match for Jessica”.
Jessica’s transplant surgery went smoothly, and thanks to the donor heart she’s had the most wonderful nine years.
It hasn’t all been easy, though. Jessica has faced a number of health battles in the years since – issues arising from the complexities of a heart transplant. At the end of 2021, she was diagnosed with a serious, potentially life-threatening condition, not uncommon in transplant patients.
Elaine said, “that diagnosis in particular was a real blow and had us all extremely worried. Thankfully, the Cardiology team partnered with Oncology and Haematology – all three teams working together. They put together a treatment plan and by God they got her through it. We got to hear the magical word ‘remission’”.
Jessica is nine-years-old now. She just had her first Holy Communion last year. She loves gymnastics and absolutely thrives on music – especially country music, for some reason!
Right now, today, there is a family receiving the same kind of frightening news that Elaine and Stephen did, about the health of their child. More than anything, they need a circle of care around them. Will you be part of it?